Originally published on the Blue Hive blog as part of Digital Honey.

We got in touch with our inner fashionista this week and took a look at the brilliant Westfield Fashion Detector. Have you ever been browsing Facebook photos, jealously eying up your friend’s new jacket? Or been walking down the street and spotted your perfect party dress? The Fashion Detector is for you.

The Fashion Detector web plugin allows you to select a photo, highlight that jacket and quickly search for it across all the Westfield shops. Pretty clever, the mobile app is where it gets genius though. The app let’s you snap a photo of anyone and search Westfield for that dress. Creepy?! Well, yes, a little, but this is the Internet!

The Westfield Fashion Detector app

The idea is certainly genius. It’s sure to drive sales and boost the brand, but its brilliance is in answering that problem we’ve all felt; “oh, that’s nice, I want it!” The problem is…it doesn’t exist. Yep, it’s just a concept put together by students at Miami Ad School. The technology isn’t there yet, in fact it’s not even close, such complex image recognition would be required that it’ll be a long time coming.

So we’re consigning this one to the growing pile of apps in the ‘wouldn’t that be cool, one day maybe’ category. Oh well, a girl can dream.

The faster our browser usage evolves the better, there are some ways you can help as well:

1. Install a new browser and ditch IE yourself;
2. Pester your work’s IT guys to install one;
3. Stop supporting IE6 when you develop;
4. If you develop anything do it with the modern web in mind.

That last one is the most important. We need the web to move on, but we can’t do that when we’re still developing for technology that’s 5 years old. With every new thing we build we need to try and push the advances of the modern web. Use HTML5, ditch Flash, expose your data, syndicate, mash up, utilise real-time content. It’s not about the browsers really, they’re just a little thing holding us back, it’s about achieving a more integrated, simplistic, beautiful web.

So the next time you have an opportunity to make something, don’t do the same old, make something different; innovate.

The Tube (via realSMILEY)

1. Let me off first. Don’t be the dick blocking the door and don’t even think about getting on before everyone is off. My elbows are pointy.
2. Hold on to the nearest handrail. Don’t reach across my face. If you do fall over; don’t expect any help.
3. You’re not getting my seat unless you’re definitely, 100%, disabled. Being fat doesn’t count, nor do mental disabilities (I’m talking to you Mr starey), and if you’re pregnant I may ask for proof.
4. What’s with the cross over? If you’re to the left of the doors stay left when you board, learn your lane discipline! Do I need to remind you about the elbows?
5. I won’t move if you stare at me. I won’t move if you shove me. You can ask, but the answer is no.
6. Dash through closing doors at your own risk. Count yourself lucky not to be openly mocked if you fall, help is out of the question.
7. Stand on the right. Walk on the right too, you’re moving so slowly you barely count as moving anyway.

Break the rules and suffer my English scorn (a stare and a sigh). I’ll deal with you tourists later.

Chrome is built to work flawlessly with all Google services, automatically extending their hold on the web ecosystem to users’ desktops. But, maybe more importantly, the high profile of Chrome pushes progress on greater standards compliance in all browsers. Something that can only be good for a company whose business is building for the web.

Demonstrating Chrome’s advanced features with simple animations

Google also recently introduced Goggles; their visual search technology. The tech here is stunningly clever (another Google tradition), allowing you to search based on images and locations instead of typing in text. Just imagine going shopping with a whole Internet of price comparisons available to you at the click of a shutter!

With Google virtually owning the index to the Internet they’re the gatekeepers of this kind of technology. This is enormous power when you think about the potential nefarious applications for visual search tech.

Introducing Google Goggles: a visual search application for Android phones

It seems like day by day Google is slowly taking over the world, everything they touch turns to gold and every market they enter is shaken up. But should we worry about the power that such a fast growing company wields? Or should we trust Google and their corporate motto; “don’t be evil”?

The Apple iPad

Well, now it’s announced this is what we know:

• It’s a touchscreen tablet device with an LCD colour display. It doesn’t have the e-ink display used in many eBook readers which provides a reading experience close to paper and better battery life.
• It’s based on the iPhone operating system, this means it’s not a computer in its own right and still syncs with your main computer just like an iPod or iPhone.
• All current iPhone applications will work but they’ll be double sized to fit the screen, developers are able to create or adapt apps specifically for the iPad though. It also uses the same App store.
• One of the standard apps will be iBooks where you are able to download and read books. They’re partnering with various publishers and offering books in the store using the same micro-payment system that iTunes uses.

More interesting though is what it doesn’t do:

• There’s no multitasking. Just like the iPhone it can only do one thing at a time so you can’t have email open, last.fm playing in the background and your browser loading a page.
• No support for Flash. This means no web video, no Flash websites.
• No camera. Given that every other Apple device has a camera this is a strange thing to leave out.
• No GPS, no HDMI out, no USB.
• 1024×178 display. This isn’t widescreen (so you get black bar on movies) and isn’t HD. This doesn’t make it great for watching video, one of the things showed off by Apple.

No Flash on the Apple iPad

So what uses does the iPad have? Well it’s not intended to replace a laptop or a phone, but instead to exist in addition to these. I can see the iPad being a casual home device; something you have lying about the house to read books on, surf the web in front of the TV, and watch the occasional video. I don’t think it’s going to be great as a computer-like device, it’s not versatile and able to ‘do anything’ like a laptop or desktop.

As one commenter put it; “Apple has basically moved into the bedtime reading market today.”

We’re pretty sure the ‘iSlate’ is coming and as with any yet to be released Apple product I want one already. But I’ve got to ask; where does the tablet fit in?

The new Apple tablet has arrived (via Rego Korosi)

We know it’s going to be bigger than a phone (a 10 inch screen is rumoured) and that it’s not going to have a hardware keyboard. So, we’re going to have a portable that won’t fit in your pocket but is still as impractical for serious use as the iPhone. That seems like an uncomfortable fit between a phone and a laptop, and I already have both of those. It just breaks out of the three screen model:

• Entertainment. The sit back, relax, big screen.
• Work. The lean forward, concentrate, medium screen.
• Mobile. The on-the-go, always-on, small screen.

The lines have been blurring though, we enjoy more entertainment on-the-go today and we’re now always connected to the office. So maybe it’s time for Apple to revolutionise another market, even if it’s one they’ve had a shot at before (with the Newton) and one that others have consistently failed in.

Are we looking at a product which will be your ‘one device’? An easy on-the-go computer, an entertainment device, a phone (with headset of course) and something that’s powerful enough to be a desktop replacement when docked? Well, actually, that sounds awesome. As I said; I want an Apple tablet so bad!

Elf Yourself is back for Christmas 2009 and now it connects with Facebook to save you some of the pain of finding photos. They’ve also added new tools to better fit faces to elves and even more dance and music styles.

Ogilvy have created (possibly) the first ever agency Christmas iPhone app (slightly less imaginatively) called White Xmas (iTunes store link). With the tag line “it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas”, the app allows you to snap a photo which it then sprinkles with computer-generated snow. A neat idea, wonderfully atmospheric and pretty innovative.

AIS have been warming their vocal chords with a Christmas sing-along. Choose a song and control the good people of AIS while they sing it for you! The controls are a little hard to get a hang of but those with nimble fingers will be able to produce a good tune.

Elfquilibrium is an addictive little Christmas game. Guide Santa along a precarious rooftop by helping him balance out his somewhat drunken gait. But keep on your toes, you’ve got to deliver presents down all the chimneys, too.

YouTube are running a YouTube Carolling competition in the US this year. People can record their rendition of a choice of 4 carols (2 traditional, 2 original) and upload their video. There are $100 gift cards for 15 runners-up and the overall winner gets the $5,000 grand prize! There are some frankly ridiculous entries so far, this being my favourite by far.

What’s your favourite bit of seasonal digital?
Merry Christmas!

What stopped me getting one before now wasn’t the stills-only camera, the lack of MMS, or even no copy-paste. It was the capacity. I wanted the iPhone to be my personal technological convergence, my single device, my ‘one ring’ and without that “32GB” label it could never be that. For me it’s simple math:

iPhone = phone + iPod + camera + DS + laptop

Except it’s not. With my iPod I could get through a couple of days of moderate use, my old phone only needed charging once a week and I went a whole holiday on a single charge of my DS and camera. This thing sucks power like it’s trying to reanimate Frankenstein. But it’s not just one of those devices, it’s all of them and it fits in my hand, you can’t blame the little thing for being a bit power hungry.

The new features – video camera, compass, voice control – are surprisingly useful. There are some great apps to make use of all the shiny too; Maps now lets you orientate yourself using the compass and Doom Resurrection really tests the speed and graphics bump.

Doom Resurrection

One thing I wanted to do was use my iPhone for work, the Exchange support makes that easy; It syncs perfectly and plays nice with MobileMe as well. But for business use there are (in my opinion) some crucial features missing:

• Tasks and to-dos – I rely on the great to-do management in both iCal and Outlook. Just a simple app sync with these would surely be a boon for any business user.
• Flagging emails – All email clients and protocols support this, it’s basic. Implement it already!
• Email signatures – Why can’t I have separate signatures by account? Silly.

I admit these are all minor gripes and it’s only because of the near perfection of the iPhone that these stick in my throat.

The iPhone has delivered on it’s promises, I can see now why it’s been such a game changer for the mobile market. Its strength is in its versatility; it can be anything and provide everything. With it in my pocket I feel invincible; wherever I go and whatever I do I know where I am, I carry all my media and all my important information, I’m always connected and I have the entire internet at my finger tips. That’s a powerful thing.

“What’s the point?” you may ask, on the surface there’s not much to it, and certainly most non-twitterers don’t get it. But the same question was asked of many social networks, before wide-spread adoption, and users are flocking to Twitter much as they once did to Facebook. I for one can certainly attest to an addiction to Twitter, it’s described beautifully by the TwitterCycle.

My very own Twitter Cycle

Tweets can be posted a variety of ways – through the web interface, by IM, by SMS, or using one of the many apps – making updating hassle-free. As tweets are short messages they’re very manageable – I’ll almost always read a tweet – whereas I’m often put off by a lengthy blog post. This makes Twitter a great tool for keeping up to date with people and for them to keep up with you. People naturally like to share and to receive – Twitter facilitates this beautifully.

The system of following allows Twitter to take on another dimension. Tweets are broadcast to all your followers – a one-to-many message – but there’s the functionality for direct messages – private one-to-one messages – and @replies – a weird amalgam best described as one-to-one-to-many messages. This lets Twitter take on a conversational element thereby adding another layer of functionality.

Twistori

People have been finding new and interesting ways in which to use Twitter. Stories recently such as the user who posted “Arrested” on his arrest in Egypt – rallying followers to take action on his behalf – and claims that news of the Chinese earthquake was broken on Twitter by web icon Robert Scoble just go to demonstrate it’s power. The marketing possibilities with Twitter are enormous – there’s huge potential for ‘word of mouth’ marketing – and there are great tools such as TweetScan which can be used to monitor a campaign’s impact. And there’s lots being done by the tech community, who have taken Twitter into their hearts, creating a deluge of mashups and apps. There are apps to post to, and monitor, Twitter – Twhirl, Twitterific, and Hahlo to name but a few – and some tasty little mashups – my recent favourite being Twistori – appearing all the time.

So Twitter undoubtedly has its uses. It might not be just a tech world fad either – recent estimates put the user base between 1m and 1.5m (Twitter doesn’t publish actual figures) – and the buzz is spreading amongst journalists and marketeers. Give it a try, the worst that can happen is that you’ll become hopelessly addicted. I think Twitter is here to stay, I’m addicted anyway.

Movies

Apparently people want “movies, movies, movies” or so say Steve-o, personally I’ve got a big thing for TV and podcasts. So along come movie rentals, with a box to make the model work. Apple TV mark 2 is all right, it only just improves on the first try in my book. I want to see a box that’ll play any codec, is a clever PVR, and plays optical media too, now that I would shell out for.

The big iTunes announcement is undoubtedly movie rentals, loads of titles and all the major studios on board, congrats Apple movies are in the bag. The prices are bearable, the HD and dolby 5.1 are nice touches, but again the rest of the world is left behind. As with so many things I want right now, like the Amazon music download service, it’s US only. I know it’s coming over here in time but I’m willing to bet that when it does arrive our prices will be anything but fair.

Time capsule

It’s a AirPort Extreme with a hard drive (okay it’s a “server grade” hard drive) but has everyone forgotten that we were meant to be able to plug our regular hard drives into our base stations and use these to backup?! If it’s possible to backup wirelessly with time machine, let people do it without a whole new device!

Update 1.1.3

Some nice additions to the iPhone; location for Google maps is neat, multiple recipients for SMS messages will elate some, and bookmarking to the home screen and rearranging icons are both good prep for the SDK. But it’s a poor show for the iPod Touch owners, a $20 upgrade just smacks of Apple trying to pull another fast one on early adopters, and we all know how that worked out last time.

The MacBook Air

Everyone knew about the MBA before it was announced, it was one of the most ubiquitous rumours and magically it actually came true, unlike some of the much more practical ones. *cough* 3G iPhone *cough*

It is a truly lovely looking piece of kit, “the worlds thinnest notebook”; if you discount the Pedion (another badly named device) which appeared from Mitsubishi in 1998, CNET revealed, and beat the MBA in the anorexia stakes by a whole 0.03 inches. The package is beautiful, it has the aluminium shell of the MBP but adds sexy curves. At only 3 pounds it’s as light as a feather and it’s prettier than a dove.

You’re going to look super cool on the train when you whip out that manilla envelope and out comes not a sheaf of tax forms but your sexy, slim notebook. With that 5 hours battery life you can sit down to watch your rented movies and work on your next keynote, and you’ll be the coolest kid on the train.

But damn hell it’s expensive. Compare it to the regular MacBook if you will; weight – a win, size – a win, screen and keyboard – a draw, expandability – a lose, connectivity – a lose, power – a lose, price – a big lose. What you’re paying an extra $700 for (and that’s the cheap model, add another $1000 for a SSD) is saving yourself from carrying around an extra 2 pounds, and you lose yourself a whole bunch of the good stuff! I know the competitors (Sony) are coming in at this price point, I know it’s Apple and Apple is expensive, and I know it’s a luxury item.

And so comes the conclusion Apple must bet on time after time; should I buy one? No. Do I want one? Yeah, I really do.